


Grapevine

by unwindmyself



Series: curious shapes shift in the dark [30]
Category: True Blood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bars and Pubs, Exposition, Fae & Fairies, Female Friendship, Fix-It, Gen, Gossip, agency and choices!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-01
Updated: 2014-03-01
Packaged: 2018-01-14 04:26:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1252813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwindmyself/pseuds/unwindmyself
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luna, finally feeling well enough to be out and about, fields a stranger's attempts at activism; Sam and Emma come bearing news of the werewolf pack; the Bellefleur girls play detective.  All in a night at Merlotte's.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Grapevine

**Author's Note:**

> Part three, "Waiting for the Kill."

“Sookie,” Braelyn stage-whispers, tipping backward on her barstool to catch her friend’s attention. “You been watching this?”

She jerks her head in the direction of the booth nearest them, where Luna sits with a curly-haired, caramel-skinned woman who’s never been seen in town before tonight. (Everyone else in the bar – meaning Arlene, Lafayette, and a couple of guys from the construction crew – has been quick to observe that she’s a stranger, not unkindly but curiously. Who’s traveling when the world’s in this state?) It’s the conversation they’re having that’s of interest to the girls, though. Sookie told them it’s not cool to out other supernaturals, but from what they can hear that’s what this _human_ stranger – Nicole, her name is Nicole, they’ve picked up on that – is trying to do.

“I’ve been tryin’ not to,” Sookie says pointedly. “But I did notice.”

She leans against the side of the bar and they all five start to listen in for a moment, frowning.

“After what happened on TV,” Nicole is saying, “I think everyone’s realizing that there are more than just vampires out there. We wanna help you out.”

“Help me?” Luna says like she can’t quite believe what she’s hearing.

“You, meaning all of the shifters,” Nicole clarifies. “It’s time for you to be accepted, too.”

“In case you haven’t noticed,” Luna sighs, “vampires aren’t exactly _accepted_ right now, either. It’s kind of a shitshow out there.”

The girls don’t really know Luna – didn’t meet her before tonight – but they know _of_ her; Sookie’s only met Luna a couple of times, really, but she knows what happened to her. She wishes that she’d known when it was happening and she and the others could have helped somehow, but that’s neither here nor there now, and she’s just glad that Luna’s at least feeling better enough to be out of bed and politely combative now.

“I know,” Nicole says. “But it’s gonna happen.”

“And I know that,” Luna says. “One of these days, shifters are gonna come out officially just like vampires have.”

“Werewolves, too,” Nicole interjects.

Luna pulls a face. She’d been hoping that wouldn’t get brought up. “Werewolves, too,” she concedes. “But here’s the thing, Nicole. I said what I did on TV without really thinking about the consequences. Someday shifters and weres are gonna come out, and I’ll be glad to help ease that transition, but right now it’s not the time, and the only thing I give a fuck about now is keeping my daughter safe.”

“I understand,” Nicole nods, a bit chastened.

And right at that moment, said daughter bursts through the door, grinning.

“Well, look who it is,” Lafayette exclaims, like he’s absolutely starstruck. He’s really pretty good with kids, and he’s been in Emma’s good graces since as an unspoken “welcome back from being kidnapped” gift he gave her with the metallic pink cowboy boots she’s now wearing (and has in fact refused to take off since getting them, except to sleep and bathe).

“Hey, Lala,” Emma grins, bounding over to the bar. Without having to be asked, Danika lifts her up so she can blow Lafayette a kiss, which he reciprocates showily; as a thank-you, Emma offers the bigger girl a similar kiss before skipping over to her mother’s booth.

“Who’s Luna’s friend?” Sam, who’s followed, asks Sookie and Lafayette in a whisper.

“Her name’s Nicole,” Lafayette says. “You oughta ask Luna for the details.”

“She knows about y’all,” Sookie whispers. She knows Sam will get it.

And meanwhile, Luna’s scooting over in the booth to make room for Emma, chuckling. “Hey, sweetie,” she says. “How was your visit? Is Alcide doing a good job?”

She’d been reluctant to let Emma go back to see her grandmother and by extension her werewolf pack ever again, because of what she’d heard and what had happened, but Emma, who understands more of this than her adults think she does but not as much as she might need to in order to be as wary as them, had mentioned she missed her grandma so many times that when Sam offered to drive her to spend the day with Martha and the others and to chaperone the whole thing, Luna had grudgingly agreed to it. Just the day, though (“even if one of those freaks who kidnapped my daughter is dead and the other one’s run off, I don’t want her near those werewolves who let them near her after dark,” she’d insisted, not unreasonably).

“Funny story,” Sam drawls, leaning against the back of the booth. “That I’d be happy to tell you in private. No offense meant, Miss…?”

“Sam, this is Nicole Wright,” Luna says. “Nicole, this is Sam.”

Nicole flashes a brilliant smile at Sam. “I’ll get outta your hair,” she promises. “But think over what I said, Luna. I’m leaving you my number.”

With that, the girl slides out of the booth, waving all pretend-sheepishly; pretty much everyone in the bar is watching her as she takes her leave for one reason or another, but it’s Arlene who breaks their collective trance, announcing, “Nothin’ good’s gonna come from staring, y’all.”

“Okay, Aunt Arlene,” the girls chorus, and Charlaine waves her closer to whisper, “She’s on the level, though. I mean, not fuckin’ with them about all that stuff.”

“Charlaine!” Arlene exclaims.

“I’m just sayin’ it that way to emphasize my point,” Charlaine says haughtily, because she knows exactly the content of the lecture that she’s about to get about swearing. “Go, tell Sam.”

“Sookie, maybe you oughta hear this, too,” Sam announces, waving her over.

“I’ll take it,” Sookie tells Charlaine before going to join the others in the booth. “What’s up?” Not that she can’t hear it, but she needs to hear him tell it, and Luna needs to as well.

“Apparently, once the V he took to challenge wore off, leading wasn’t really Alcide’s style,” Sam says.

“It didn’t seem like he was much of a pack guy,” Luna observes. “At least with that group.”

“Well, anyway, he decided it was about time to head back to Mississippi,” Sam continues. “According to Rikki he said something about how there wasn’t any reason for him to stay, now he’d got the pack out of the clutches of that…” He glances at Emma, happily sipping her mom’s iced tea. “Mean guy.”

Sookie sighs. In theory, she’s always liked the idea of having Alcide as a friend, but it’s not like it’s ever worked out particularly well. Maybe they can be pen pals, but he didn’t even bother telling her he was splitting, so she’s not worried too much about it. Especially given everything else she’s got on her plate.

“Which one is Rikki?” Luna asks, making a face.

“She was Alcide’s second,” Sam explains.

“And now she’s the packmaster!” Emma interrupts, clearly excited about this. “She’s kinda mean a lot of the time, but she’s really cool.”

Luna tilts her head. “And if she was Alcide’s second…”

“She agrees with him about policy,” Sam confirms. “No V, none of that… stuff.”

“Mommy,” Emma says. “Mommy, can I be a packmaster someday too?”

“I don’t see why you couldn’t,” Luna says kindly. She’s still not _that_ comfortable with her daughter being a werewolf, but her daughter being a leader? That’s worth encouraging.

 

* * *

 

The night wears on; Sam and Luna and Emma head out around eight, gonna go back to Sam’s and watch more cartoons (they’ve, or rather Emma has, taken Adilyn up on her _Sailor Moon_ suggestion, which she’s absolutely thrilled about even if she’s playing it cool ‘cause she’s mature now). Sam leaves Lafayette in charge, but as he points out, “I been defaulting to in-charge for weeks now.”

Danika notices that the construction guys are gossiping about vampires around eight-thirty, and because they’ve been told not to eavesdrop, Braelyn suggests that they go chat the boys up, and before Arlene can shout that no, that’s a horrible idea, don’t go flirt with the grown men (but not before they hear her thinking it and roll their eyes in unison) they’re up and approaching the guys.

Danika, who’s the shyest of them probably, mostly just hangs back and fiddles with the hem of her sweater, and Adilyn keeps shifting from foot to foot, but Braelyn and Charlaine are all smiles, all “teach us how to play pool?” and the like.

“It’s fine, Arlene,” Sookie assures. “We’re all here to chaperone.”

And the guys at least have that figured out, so nothing is gonna go down, but after maybe ten minutes of this, Adilyn’s running back into the kitchen where Sookie and Lafayette are enjoying some covert beverages of their own and exclaiming, “Matt says that his brother who works for the governor’s office says that the governor’s daughter went missing and they think she’s dead they’re sure it was vampires.”


End file.
